DAYS 10-12 (9/19-21)

Day 10

Our second day in the pool with the dogs…pretty much the same as the first day.  They both love that pool so much, as the second you take off their collars, they are rarin’ to go.  Once again, I wore out before they did.

Day 11

We haven’t been very active.  Pete does take Daisy out for walks around the neighborhood.  They are very quick walks, but Pete explains that Daisy is a very fast walker.  Other than that we watched the Bengals win their game and the Reds…..not so much!!!!

Day 12

So, the master bedroom we are sleeping in has a full-size sliding glass door that opens out to the pool deck.  Daisy and Kaylee have doggie doors that let them out to the pool deck and then out to the yard so that have free access to do their business as needed. 

This AM, as I got out of bed I go to open the blinds on the sliding glass door, and there sits Daisy, looking in at me and whining.  I just started laughing.  Everywhere I go, she is there….waiting and whining.

Had lunch with my friend Rik McNeill, the person I call my brother by another mother.  I met Rik in 8^th grade when his family moved to Pinellas Park and he started at Pinellas Park Jr High.  His family also began attending the same church we attended. 

We’ve had so many adventures together.  I visited him at Auburn University when he started college there.  Then I visited him at the second university (can’t remember the name, but it was in NY state.)

Our most famous adventure was when he was working a summer in northern Ohio at a church where our former pastor was now the pastor.  He met me at the interstate intersection where I needed to get off.  I was supposed to follow him to Rev. Ross’s home.  He took off like a bullet and I had to keep up or get lost (this was long before cell phones and Google Maps).  We both got pulled over by a cop for speeding and because he was out of state and I was out of county we were taken to the police station.  Neither of us had the money to pay a fine immediately, so in order to get released we had to call Rev. Ross (how awful) and he came down and bailed us out.

The next day being Sunday we had to sit in the front pew of the church as Rev. Ross told our story to his congregation.  I wanted so badly to find a hole to drown in. 

Anyway, we’ve been dear friends for many years and our visit on Monday was great.  He lives in Gainesville and was on his way to St. Pete to visit grandchildren and then head out the next morning from Tampa Airport for NYC.  It was so good to see him.

DAYS 6-9 (9/15-18)

Day 6

Tuesday, as mentioned before, we took Jan and Tom to the Tampa Airport.  That was quick and easy, except for my observations.  Boy, has that airport grown over the years. 

The first time I flew into that airport I was probably 9 years old, but once I moved back to Ohio in 1968, I was either driving or flying to Florida on a regular basis, and on this visit, I was completely surprised by how much it has grown.  I shared one funny story with everyone as we approached the airport. 

There was one trip where I flew down for a visit and as we made our final approach I heard the 3 senior ladies in the seats behind me being totally flabbergasted by the amount of rain that was on the ground.  They were looking at Tampa Bay!!!  I started laughing and turned around and let them know it was the Bay.   I’m not sure they believed me.

We dropped Jan and Tom off for their trip, and made our way home….nothing exciting for the rest of the day.

 

Day 7

Our first excursion into the pool with the dogs.  Boy, are these 2 girls ever serious water dogs.  Even, Kaylee, the 13 year-old,,,didn’t jump in, but stepped in and really didn’t want to get out when the time came.  Daisy, the 5-year-old, wanted to play rough the whole time.  She has a plastic float toy that gets thrown into the water and she dive bombs her approach.  Brings the toy right back to me and off we go again.  I wore out before she did.  

 You know, when you’re on a trip like this it’s easy to get your days mixed up.  That night after dinner we started looking for the Buffalo Bills/Detroit Lions football game on the TV.  As I mentioned before, the TV system is an evil system that Peter hasn’t even attempted to figure out, so it was me looking for the game.  I kept finding listings for it, but the info didn’t make any sense.  Finally, we figured out that the Thursday night games typically don’t air on Wednesday nights.  Problem solved!!!!

 

Day 8

Thursday we drove into Lakeland and found Hollis Gardens where we met Renee and Ron, Pete’s cousins, for lunch.  We had a lovely visit with them and caught up on all the latest news. 

While driving the next day we saw a Hollis Cancer Center so I looked the name up on Google to see who it was.  Mark Hollis was the president of Publix Super Markets who died from pancreatic cancer.  Good to know.

Made it home and did find the Bills game on the TV so got to see them win their first game in their new stadium.  Gorgeous stadium but interesting to know that it is only 60,000 seats compared to the former stadium of 70,000 seats.  Not sure why they would make it smaller.

 

Day 9

THE GOOD NEWS…..I FOUND MY LOST KEY FOB!!!!  Not sure how it ended up in Pete’s truck in the door pocket, but there it was.  So glad I didn’t order a new one on Amazon, was waiting to get home. 

Found the lost key fob when we headed out to the Florida Air Museum in Pete’s truck.  Nothing at all like the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, but a nice way to spend some time out of the house.

 

 Pete and I have come up with a plan to every other day find someplace to go outside the house and on the stay home days, play with the dogs in the pool.  Sounds like fun to me!!!!

DAY 4 & 5 (9/13 & 14)

Day 4.

Day was kind of a quiet day.  It was a day of settling in.  Learning the ropes of the house and dogs.  And trying to figure out where things like the grocery store, gas station, etc. is.  Also, they have an extraordinarily complex TV system that I attempted to learn, but grew very, very frustrated by.  Nothing simple about it.  Once they are in the air I will sit down on my own and see if I can figure it out.

Today we went to Chili’s for lunch.  Their neighbor and daughter joined us and we had a lovely meal.

The one really yucky thing that has happened is that I have lost my back-up car fob.  Pete insisted that we both bring our extra keys.  I don’t know why, I never do that.  But of course, since I did bring my back-up, I lost it.  It had to have fallen out of my purse.  Have no idea where it could be.  And I’m pissed cause I know they cost a fortune to replace!!!!

Sunday evening we watched the Bengals/Buccs game…..yeah, the Bengals won!!!

 

Day 5

Today was pretty much the same.  I pulled out my computer and got some work done.  Pete and I went to Publix and picked up a couple of things, although they do have 2 refrigerators and 3 freezers packed full of food, so we should be in good shape as far as eating goes.

We took Jan and Tom out to Texas Roadhouse for a celebratory farewell dinner.  We take them to the Tampa airport early tomorrow  for their flight to Rome. 

Then we will be on our own.  Wish us luck!!!!

 

DAY 2 & 3

Day 2

Day 2 of our drive to Florida began with breakfast at our Hampton Inn and then on the road again.  We were just north of Atlanta as we hit the road so we delayed departure until after the morning rush hour. 

Of course, that didn’t help much.  Driving through Atlanta, no matter the day or time, is always a nightmare.  Last June I was attending a wedding in Bellingham and drove from the Seattle airport north to Bellingham.  I blogged about that experience being exactly like driving through Atlanta.  And this time, I was reminded of how awful it is.  The only thing positive you can say about the experience is that at least the Atlanta By-pass routes all the semis around Atlanta and you don’t have to deal with them.  But still, shear volume of cars is just over-whelming.  And this trip, for the first time in years, I was actually driving. 

Then, just south of Atlanta we started running into the scattered storms that was forecasted.  Not much lightening or thunder, but the rain cam down in buckets.  At one point my cruise control stopped working and the error message said the sensor was blocked.  Finally, after the rain stopped the sensor must have dried up and it started working again. 

So, we made it to Molly’s house and after 7 hours, I was soooo glad to be out of the car.  Thank God it has excellent air conditioning because I stepped out of the car at Molly’s and was blasted by the heat and humidity.  How do people live in Florida….seriously???

                                                         Duke

 Molly has two dogs, Duke is the young German Shepard, who was super, super energetic, but a little sweetheart just the same.    

We ended the day with a yummy dinner at the Fish Camp restaurant and a nice visit with Molly.  The next morning, we were on the road by Noon and only had little more than an hour drive to Jan and Tom’s.  I was so happy it was not another 7- hour day.

 

DAY 3

Jan was waiting for us in her drive way when we came through the gates.  Again, the heat and humidity almost knocked me off my feet as I got out of the car, but we were where we’re gonna be for the next month.  Time to unload the car and relax. 

I’m so glad we were off the road, because again that day the storms started rolling through.  In this case major rainfall and strong thunder and lightning. 

Their dogs, Keylie and Daisy, really don’t like the storms, so we tried to calm them down.  But the storms were really powerful, so they were not happy campers at all. 

 

Daisy 

The day was spent just catching up with Jan and Tom.  Lovely dinner, watching the OSU game, ending the day in a comfy bed.  Nite, nite.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Currently I’m sitting in a Hampton Inn in Cartersville, GA, on my way to Auburndale, Fl. to house sit Pete’s sister’s house for a month.  They are headed to Europe for a 3 week tour and we’re dog sitting their 2 labs.

We had to drive two cars down cause I’m leaving for Indian Rocks Beach later in the month for my 60^th high school reunion which should be a lot of fun.  And then I need to head right home for OLLI classes that start a week earlier.    

So, its been a while since I drove down to Florida from our home in Goshen, Ohio.  I’ve made the trip many times over the past several years, but typically Pete does all the driving while I spend the days reading a book. 

This time, since I had to drive my car, I wasn’t really looking forward to the drive, but I buckled in and off we went.  All was well for a while, until we hit rain showers just south of Cincinnati.  It rained, not stormed, all the way to southern Kentucky.  That was a little stressful since the roads were packed.

But once the rain broke, I relaxed and started thinking about all the times I’ve made this drive.  I remember the first time we made the trip for our move to Florida in 1957.  I-75 wasn’t even completed until 1977. 

That means, when I moved back to Ohio in June 1968 that I didn’t make the drive all the way up I-75.  I don’t remember that.  I remember I drove my new 1968 VW Bug was packed with everything I owned…..clothes, books, a sewing machine, golf clubs, etc, etc. 

Driving today I started thinking about this history.  Kind of wished I kept journals recording all those trips.  Early on I drove home to Florida at least once a year, sometimes more often. 

Of course, once I moved to Alaska and then Guam, that was 3* years when I didn’t make the drive at all.  But in June 1976, when I returned to Cincinnati from Guam, the practice started up again. 

I actually love the drive.  I-75 makes the trip very easy and driving through Kentucky and Tennessee is really beautiful.  There is so much history there, I can get lost in thought as I drive along.

This trip will be the longest ever.  From here we travel down to Leesburg, Fl to spend a day with Molly, Pete’s sister, then from there to Auburndale to Jan and Tom’s.

This will be the first installment.  I’ll keep posting as the days fly by.

See ya later.